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Archive for January, 2016
State of emergency declared over polluted drinking water in Michigan city
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2016
Guardian: Michigan governor Rick Snyder has declared a state of emergency in Flint over problems with lead in the city’s drinking water as federal officials confirm they are investigating the matter. 'We were paying to poison our kids': lead in Michigan city's water hits children Read more
Snyder announced the action on Tuesday. It makes available state resources in cooperation with local response and recovery operations.
Federal prosecutors also said on Tuesday they are working with the US Environmental...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on State of emergency declared over polluted drinking water in Michigan cityFederal officials probe lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2016
Reuters: Federal officials are investigating the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, after the financially beleaguered city switched sources to save money, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in Detroit said on Tuesday.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder apologized in late December for the state's mishandling of lead contamination of Flint's water supply and accepted the resignation of the state official whose department is responsible for overseeing water quality.
The U.S. Attorney's...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Federal officials probe lead-tainted water in Flint, MichiganGreenland might be contributing more to sea level rise than we thought
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 5th, 2016
Grist: The Greenland ice sheet is starting to look a lot like the ice luge that ruined your New Year`s Eve. Except, instead of drunk faces at the end of it, there`s an ocean. And instead of cheap vodka flowing down its surface, there`s meltwater.
It shouldn`t surprise you that Greenland is slowly melting away and will ultimately contribute to what could be catastrophic sea level rise (and if it does surprise you, then welcome to 2016 - you`re going to want to sit down for this). But until recently, the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Greenland might be contributing more to sea level rise than we thoughtWhat you should know about California’s massive methane leak
Posted by Grist: Julia Lurie on January 5th, 2016
Grist: For more than two months, California has experienced a slow-moving environmental disaster: Methane leaking from a faulty natural gas well near the Los Angeles neighborhood Porter Ranch has displaced thousands of families and is releasing the greenhouse gas equivalent of driving 7 million cars each day. Here`s what`s going on:
When did all this start? On Oct. 23, methane began leaking from a faulty well in Aliso Canyon, the site of a natural gas storage facility owned by Southern California Gas...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on What you should know about California’s massive methane leakWhy would militants take over a wildlife refuge?
Posted by Mother Nature: Russell McLendon on January 5th, 2016
Mother Nature: Earlier this week, armed militants took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. The move is a protest against "overreach" by the United States, according to the group's leaders, who say they hope the refuge "will be shut down forever." Why would anyone want to shut down a wildlife refuge? Do they hate animals? No, or at least that's not their stated purpose. The roots of this standoff are long and tangled, dating back to the early days of Mormonism and the 1862 Homestead Act. Much...
Causes of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia identified
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Southeast Asia has the greatest diversity of mangrove species in the world, and mangrove forests provide multiple ecosystem services upon which millions of people depend. Mangroves enhance fisheries by providing habitat for young fishes and offer coastal protection against storms and floods. They also store substantially higher densities of carbon, as compared to most other ecosystems globally, thus playing an important role in soaking up carbon dioxide emissions and mitigating climate change. Despite...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Causes of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia identifiedMississippi River Swells Dramatically During Historic Rainfall and Flooding
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2016
Yale Environment 360: A historic flood has sent the highest water levels ever recorded through the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, toppling records set during the devastating floods of 1993. The massive surge follows heavy rains that dropped up to 12 inches of water across the region during a three-day period in late December. A NASA satellite recently acquired this image of flooding along the Mississippi River from January 3rd, which shows floodwaters as blue and vegetation as green. The previous day, the waters...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mississippi River Swells Dramatically During Historic Rainfall and Flooding12 Earthquakes Hit Frack-Happy Oklahoma in Less Than a Week
Posted by EcoWatch: Cole Mellino on January 5th, 2016
EcoWatch: After the Oklahoma City area was hit by at least a dozen earthquakes in less than a week, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, ordered Monday that several injection well operators reduce wastewater disposal volumes. “We are working with researchers on the entire area of the state involved in the latest seismic activity to plot out where we should go from here,” Oil and Gas Conservation Division Director Tim Baker told the Associated Press. The commission’s...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 12 Earthquakes Hit Frack-Happy Oklahoma in Less Than a WeekHeatwaves, drought may curb global power output: Study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2016
Agence France-Presse: Thousands of power plants worldwide face sharp reductions in electricity output by mid-century due to more frequent heatwaves and drought driven by global warming, according to a study published Monday.
"We need to be concerned as electricity will become more expensive and less reliable in the future due to climate change," co-author Keywan Riahi of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria told AFP.
If warming continues unchecked, higher temperatures and water shortages...
An investment strategy to save the planet
Posted by New York Times: Tina Rosenberg on January 5th, 2016
New York Times: If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to do your part against climate change, keep reading. Now you can — with your investments.
You’d be following New York State’s example. At the Paris climate change talks last month, the state’s comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, announced that the state’s Common Retirement Fund, for public employee pensions, will put $2 billion into a new investment fund created by Goldman Sachs that prioritizes companies with smaller carbon footprints. If that goes well, the...